So, uh, that last chapter might have hit me a little harder than I thought. Now I know a little bit about what being Kentaro Miura feels like.
Review response:
1. TigrezzTail: Very dark stuff. I'm on the fence, but leaning towards, "no," because frankly she's my favorite, but we'll see. And...it will be explained, in part, towards the end of this chapter.
Let's get this trainwreck moving.
"Can anything be done for her?" Sai asked bluntly, standing to the left of his father as they looked at Ayame.
The brunette was laying down on an operating table somewhere in Otogakure, the seat of Orochimaru's power. Orochimaru's gaze turned to Sai, practically smirking with his eyes; if not for the fact that his strongest and most loyal subordinates had been butchered, he wouldn't have entertained the thought, but something definitive had changed in the White Snake's demeanor since the death of the Sandaime Hokage.
"That depends on her luck," Orochimaru replied, his neutral tone masking a small wellspring of excitement. Though the Sound Four were dead, with the possible exception of Tayuya—whose connection with Orochimaru had been severed months ago, by some measure that the Byahebi couldn't fathom—that didn't mean that they'd lost all usefulness. By any measure, Ayame's good fortune was astronomical. She'd been struck last, and hardest, by the same swing that killed her teammates. The armor she'd worn since leaving Konoha hadn't even protected her; all of her ribs had cracked into close-knit splinters, held together by nothing but Sai's care in handling her.
In a shinobi's daily life, it was difficult to come by allies who would go to those lengths as a first resort. Whatever bond this girl shared with his son, Orochimaru thought, it wasn't simple. Looking away from his son, and back to Ayame, Orochimaru had to give credit where it was due: Naruto had taken coal, and pressed it into diamond. That wasn't to say Orochimaru hadn't done work of his own, cutting the proverbial diamond until it shone, but the blonde demon had trained Ayame from the ground up. She was his first, and best, pupil; if the rest of the orphans and urchins from the Banchou's crime ring showed half of her promise, then Naruto had been pulling the wool over Konoha's eyes for more than a decade. An entire generation of "civilians," playing the pig to eat the tiger...a terrifying thought.
"As if you believe in luck," Sai dryly replied.
"Well, I certainly don't believe in fate!" Orochimaru let a short laugh escape his throat, already imagining what Ayame could become if his experiments had any success. "As long as events aren't predetermined, the element of surprise will always play a role. Just like civilians might say that possession is nine-tenths of the law, skill will decide nine of every ten fights...but sometimes, it's better to be lucky than good."
Though Sai humored his father's long-winded nature, he failed to act on it. For the moment, he was all business.
"I need to return to Konoha, but I have something else for you before I go. In the fall, Tsunade met with the Hokage in an attempt to cure the affliction that you've been medicating." The black-clad teen didn't even look at his father as he spoke, and a small circle of darkness opened up below his feet.
"I already knew about that. She was successful, wasn't she? I haven't had to resupply him in half a year," Orochimaru replied.
"She was successful. Or, rather, Madara was." Sai finally turned his gaze to Orochimaru, and the silent beckoning of his hand caused a perfectly-preserved corpse to rise up from the darkness beneath his feet. "He drained all of her chakra and killed her. Now that Itachi's keirakukei are repaired..."
"It's only a matter of time before Itachi is consumed, and the demon permanently takes control. Five years? Ten years?" Orochimaru asked, setting aside the matter of grieving for Tsunade until he was alone.
For more than a moment, though, his eyes laid on the necklace around Tsunade's throat. It held the demon restraining crystal, created and refined by the Shodaime Hokage after the end of the Warring Clans Era. With its power, he had fought alone against all nine of the Biju and subdued them. All these decades later, that necklace was little more than a trinket—albeit an incredibly expensive one—that hadn't even been able to protect Tsunade from a single, incredibly weak, demon.
Though the Sanjiyan in Itachi's body had taken the name Madara for himself, he wasn't the same Uchiha Madara as the one that fought the Shodaime Hokage. That was a choice he'd made after learning about the dead man's reputation. Truthfully, he didn't wear it well—he might have possessed Itachi's body, but it shouldn't have access to the Hokage's techniques. A modern Sanjiyan couldn't possibly possess the myriad summoning contracts that had made their race so fearsome in legends.
As Orochimaru snapped out of his thoughts, ready to accuse his son of participating in Tsunade's murder, the boy had already finished sinking into the ink-black portal beneath his feet. Leaving Tsunade's dead body where it rested, the pool shrank before disappearing, and the Byahebi narrowed his eyes in irritation.
"Kabuto!" The White Snake's voice rang out, and the grey-haired medic arrived before a minute had passed.
Looking at the scene before him, Kabuto showed neither shock nor displeasure; he'd grown used to seeing the dead bodies of powerful shinobi during his time in Orochimaru's employ, and greatly enjoyed his work as a surgeon and a mortician. His adoptive father had been a doctor—if he were a joking man, he might say that he'd decided to continue the family practice.
"You're better with the knife than I am, and we're going to re-purpose our old friends. I know that you know what to look for, so I'm hoping I can count on your discretion," Orochimaru said.
"Flattery may get you everywhere, sir, but you don't need to praise me. Being of use to you is the most I could ever want," Kabuto replied, pairing his words with a genuine smile. "You are the only person who can rely on me to, shall we say, leave certain avenues unexplored."
"Excellent. You've noticed by now that Ayame is the only other living person in this room, yes?" Orochimaru asked with a knowing smirk on his face.
"I love this game," Kabuto chuckled. His right index finger produced a very short blade of medical chakra from its tip. It was only as long as his fingernail, and at only five microns thick, it had the appearance of a small green dot.
The chakra control to create and wield a scalpel that thin was practically inhumane. This was the reason why Kabuto would "process" Orochimaru's most highly-prized cadavers: his blades were so thin that he would only draw blood if he chose to. Though the medic would typically be forced to rely on allies in combat, his unique scalpels could carve anything out of a human body—even their keirakukei, if he was careful enough to avoid severing it.
As far as Orochimaru could tell, it wasn't that Kabuto had any love for working under him specifically. It was that, while in his employ, the bespectacled man kept finding new ways to hone and display his talents.
Orochimaru did enjoy collecting the talented.
"Refresh my memory," Sasuke began, feeling a chill seep into his bones as he walked through Mizu no Kuni's brutal winter mist. "Why did you decide to bring us here?"
"You must be joking. The whole world's been buzzing about the end of Kirigakure's civil war! Even my civilian contacts in the mainland have heard stories about it. I want to know what really happened. I'm an author, you know?" Jiraiya smiled widely, but saw with a glance that his younger companions were doing the same thing he was: ignoring the overwhelming aura of death that had followed them ever since they reached this island nation's shores.
After a few more minutes of travel, the trio had made their way to the gates of Kirigakure. Under ordinary circumstances, travelers would present their papers for approval before being allowed inside—but these were not ordinary circumstances. Children and adults mingled freely in the city's streets, mourning and celebrating at once. Across the city, streets were lined with all manner of flowers, memorials, photographs, and speakers for the dead. At the same time, throughout Kirigakure's busy city blocks, vendors operated games or served food and drinks. Though the sight was strange, Sasuke felt a sense of deja vu; in the aftermath of the Sandaime Hokage's death, and his brother's ascendance to claim the mantle of the Godaime Hokage, Konoha had undergone a similar process of grief and celebration.
Kirigakure's festivities were on a far greater scale, in accordance with the severity of the tragedies they'd suffered. It would take time, perhaps a full generation, for the embers of animosity to be smothered out—but they'd made the first steps toward that goal in the three weeks since the decisive final battle. And, true to the village's namesake, there wasn't much of a mist inside of the village proper—as though there was a massive sealing array, or secret technique, that generated the natural defense.
"Sirs! Miss!" A short, stout man called out to them, pointing toward Sasuke with a thick finger and excitedly beckoning him over. After the fourteen-year-old had arrived in front of the man's stall, none the wiser to the old fox's ploy. Jiraiya couldn't help the toothy grin that threatened to crack his face open, well aware of what came next. Many, many years ago, the same trick had been played on the Yondaime Hokage and his future wife.
"Though hard times will come again, I set up my stall near the entrance to offer good cheer to any visitors that came through the southern gate. Good health, good fortune, and...say, kind sir, would you mind giving this to your older sister? I know I don't look it, but I made all of these myself, and it would compliment your older sister's beauty quite well!" The bald merchant gestured to the series of flower crowns sitting on his wooden display, his other hand stroking one side of his comically generous mustache.
"You made all of these?" Sasuke asked, incredulous. "Wait. She's not my sister."
Immediately, the vendor bowed his head and apologized profusely.
"A thousand apologies, my lord! It seems old age has taken more of my vision than I thought. How could I ever mistake this woman for your sister? I beg you, please forgive my foolishness. In your presence, how could I have missed your wife's radiance?"
Sasuke was so taken aback that he didn't know how to respond, quietly taking the flower crown that the man's enormous mustache had pointed towards while he'd twirled it in his hand. Taking two steps back, the young Uchiha was startled to find that he'd backed into a soft body that was around his own height.
"Well, husband?" Shizune whispered meaningfully into Sasuke's ear, only for Jiraiya and the merchant to burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter. While the bald man had the good fortune of being able to lean against his stall, Jiraiya had doubled over in mirth, threatening to fall to the ground as he wheezed between laughs.
"Tanjirou...heh...you bastard...hahaha...that never gets old." Jiraiya spoke at great length, only managing to fully recover after speaking. Standing up straight, the burly Gama Sennin gave Sasuke an apologetic look. "You two, this is Tanjirou. He's an old friend of mine."
"Sorry about that, kid! Just couldn't resist. I retired a few years ago, but your pal frog-legs over here keeps me on his payroll for less sensitive stuff," Tanjirou said.
"Good help is hard to find," Jiraiya said sagely, giving Tanjirou an expectant look.
The merchant refused to look at Jiraiya, though, instead using his thumbs and forefingers to frame the scene before him. In the heels she wore, Shizune was only just taller than Sasuke, allowing her to slightly hang over him from behind. Having taken the complex flower crown out of Sasuke's hands, her hair was ringed by myrtle, baby's breath, yarrow, lilac, coriander, rue, and lily-of-the-valley; woven into the natural ornament were a peony, a crocus, and a dwarf sunflower. The light smile on her face spoke volumes as she raised a hand to move one particular lock of hair under the crown of blue, yellow, white, and purple flowers.
Without knowing or asking about this woman, Tanjirou could tell that she was struggling with a great emotional weight. Perhaps it wasn't his place to interfere, but even if Jiraiya hadn't been with Sasuke and Shizune, he still would have tried to get their attention. Whatever the slim brunette was dealing with, he'd brought a smile to her face and a measure of warmth to her heart—that was enough for him. Setting his fingers down, he turned his head in Jiraiya's direction.
"You must have come here as soon as the news reached the mainland," Tanjirou observed. He was well aware of the time it took to travel from Mizu no Kuni to the eastern edges of the Elemental Nations. "Have you heard the story of the war's final battle? Most outsiders who've come only know that the war is over."
"I haven't heard, no. Would you enlighten me?" Jiraiya asked.
"I wasn't there, obviously, but they say a great demon allied himself with the rebellion. While the two armies fought, this demon lord tied down the Mizukage, Momochi Zabuza, Hoshigaki Kisame, and both of the Mizukage's personal guards." Tanjiro spoke energetically, and Sasuke's eyes grew wide in shock.
Though Jiraiya and Tanjirou both thought that it was only surprise at the notion of a demon who still lived in the world, the young Uchiha's mind was reeling. There was only one person he could think of who might be able to do that. A red-eyed blond with the kind of overwhelming strength that would allow him to ignore common sense: Naruto.
"After several of the demon's allies were killed, he went berserk. No search parties found the remains of Kisame, Zabuza, or the Rain Guard...but the Mizukage was burned down to his skeleton, and most of the Mist Guard's body was burned away. After that, he split the sky open."
"He what?" This time, it was Jiraiya's turn to be shocked.
"I could see it from here. It wouldn't surprise me if the entirety of Mizu no Kuni could see it, that day. The sky opened up with a gigantic, glowing seal. I heard it opened a massive void tunnel. and when the demon went through it, the battle was over," Tanjirou said, finishing his tale.
"A void tunnel?" Shizune was incredulous. "Do those really exist?"
"What's that?" Sasuke asked.
"A void tunnel is an ancient artifact that acts as a gate...and yes, they do exist. They require a lot of chakra to use, though, so even those of us who know their locations won't use them unless it's a dire emergency. They're also very dangerous if you're not careful...but what worries me is the idea that a demon activated a really big one." Jiraiya's words implied that he knew where at least one such tunnel was,
"Oh?" Tanjirou's interest was piqued, and only partly out of apprehension. "Why's that?"
"There are lots of void tunnels, but not very many void tunnel exits, mostly thanks to gods and demons destroying lots of them," Jiraiya said, though he was only referencing legends. "The reason they're dangerous is because leaving one prematurely could put you anywhere on earth, with no way to escape, and no way to survive the circumstances you might find yourself in. But to walk through one that big, with no record of where it leads...what if he's gone to Makai, and preparing to invade?"
"That's enough from you, Jiraiya, you old coot. Stop worrying so much! If you're interested, head to the Hall of Heroes near the center of the city. They just finished putting up a statue of the rebel leader, and the demon is included in it. When I saw it, I was pretty impressed!" Tanjirou laughed.
"I think he's right. We should go," Sasuke said eagerly. He wanted to know if this demon really was Naruto—if, by some chance miracle, he'd landed hot on the blond's heels.
Saying their goodbyes, the trio headed further into the city; if Tanjirou noticed that Shizune now walked a little closer to her companions, with a lighter grace to her gait, he thought nothing of it. What he did was stand by the words he'd said: wearing that tightly-woven crown of bright flowers really did highlight Shizune's gentle features, bringing forward the kind of beauty that an old pervert like Jiraiya might overlook. During his time as a shinobi, Tanjirou had managed to slip into Sunagakure and steal some of their agriculture division's secrets—that crown would never fade or wither, a permanent reminder of the events that would transpire here.
After a long walk through the packed streets of Kirigakure, which included the liberal consumption of freely offered foods and drinks, the three shinobi eventually came to the crowded exterior of a monument known as the Hall of ordinary times, the half-museum, half-memorial was relatively barren. But, with the reveal of a new statue, many people had come to visit; making their way inside of the over-large building, the first thing they came face to face with were golden statues of the four Mizukage.
Idly, Shizune noted that the Yondaime's statue was protected by a thin sheet of glass that had been plastered with all manner of seals—and all manner of graffiti. Moving into the next room, a half-dozen statues stood to represent Kirigakure's heroes in the Shodai Shinobi Senso, the first of the great wars that had erupted after the founding of the various hidden villages. The second and third rooms were much alike, housing statues of several legendary figures whose reputations alone were enough to give weight to Kirigakure's name. At the back of the third room, though, a small hallway lead to a room with more visitors than any other.
In the center of that room, with a long tablet that listed the names of those who'd died on both sides of Kiri's brutal civil war, was a life-sized statue of a man and a woman. The woman was wearing a form-fitting dress that covered her body, with a generous neckline, and her long hair was pulled into a topknot as her bangs covered one eye. Her arm wrapped around the back of the man, whose left hand was on her shoulder. This man wore no shirt, and his hair dropped past the base of his neck, but someone had clearly gone out of their way to cast this statue with reverence. Nine tails fanned out in a half-circle behind him, an unmistakable Sharingan was in his left eye socket, and an egregious number of scars had been marked on the shirtless man's body—including a series of lines across his throat that Sasuke would have recognized anywhere. Beneath the statue was a plaque dedicated to the pair.
[TERUMI MEI—Leader of the Rebellion. KYUUBI NO YUUREI—Righteous Demon. Without them, freedom from Yagura's rule would still be a distant dream.]
Sasuke couldn't help the wry grin on his face as he closed his eyes. Righteous was not a word to use to describe that man.
